Amyl and The Sniffers: It’s all passion

Amyl and The Sniffers: It’s all passion

Currently based in Melbourne, four piece punk-rock band Amyl and The Sniffers are a force to be reckoned with!

We finally got the chance to see these guys play live when they opened for Cosmic Psychos here in Sydney, which they will continue to do for the Better in the Shed Tour spanning across November and December.

We were met with nothing but pure energetic passion from the quartet as they belted out their well known, well-loved tracks as well as new songs that are sure to become hits in their own right.

Vocalist Amy Taylor effortlessly maintained the attention of the crowd as she sang, danced and sprayed the punters with her drink, even entering the mosh pit and gliding across the room majestically in a crowd surf. But it wasn’t all just about the killer vocals! Band members Dec, Gus and Bryce powered the set and showcased their incredible talent, each with a unique flair!

This band delivers an extremely refreshing and energetic sound to the Australian music scene. We can honestly say we’ve never seen anyone like them.

Energised punk rock is what you’re given when you listen to this band. Influenced by a wide variety of genres including ’70s pub rock and Melbourne’s garage rock scene, lead singer Amy also cites her parents (who, like us grew up in the Penrith area in Western Sydney) as an influence on the band’s sound.

Coming down from the magic of seeing Coffin, Amyl and The Sniffers, and Cosmic Psychos play, we realised that we were starting to look like dalmatians from the bruises collected in the mosh.

After the show, we got a chance to have a chat with guitarist and overall great dude Dec Martins. When asked who his biggest influences were, Dec said, “I’m personally inspired by ’70s Australian music. There’s a ripper guitarist called Lobby Lloyd, and Billy Thorpe, also Rose Tattoo and AC/DC.”

The band’s first EP Giddy Up was composed, recorded and released on Bandcamp all within a single day in 2016, in an effort for the band to get their music out there and heard. The EP was received extremely well and a following for the band began to grow.

Dec commented on the day they managed this feat. He had just finished a shift at Big W. “They were holding instruments and they said grab the guitar so I did. I grabbed the guitar and four hours later we had four songs, we had an EP, we had a band name.”

Shouting over the background noise, Dec went on to tell us about the original intent of Amyl and The Sniffers. “We were just planning to play our friends’ house parties. We never, ever planned to play a gig in Melbourne and we never planned to play a gig in Sydney or Brisbane. Now we’re booking the USA and Europe.”

Their second EP Big Attraction was released in February 2017 and has also received enormous praise from fans and musicians alike.

As we are based in Sydney, we asked Dec to plug us a Sydney-based band he liked, to which he immediately said: “Pist Idiots”. We joined in his enthusiasm — both Sam and Dec were donning Pist Idiots shirts.

Dec said: “I love Pist Idiots. It’s really important that we played our first ever interstate gig with them [in June 2016], and we’ve been friends ever since. We’ve developed together and it’s sick to watch.”

As well as touring with the Psychos, in November and December Amyl and The Sniffers will also take part in King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard’s Gizzfest, alongside many other acts from both around the world and Australia including The Murlocs and Orb.

In the summer of 2018 Amyl and the Sniffers will be opening for American rock legends Foo Fighters for their Concrete and Gold World Tour along with Weezer and The Preatures.

Dec told us the story of how the opportunity arose:

It was a Wednesday morning. I had a tattoo booked in at midday and I went to our booking agent’s hotel room in Brisbane CBD and he offers me a banana and an orange juice. I said no to the banana but I said yes to the orange juice.

We were watching the TV, it’s 11am. He takes a sip his drink and he gets this message from an agency touring Foo Fighters and he goes, “Clowns [a band their agent also manages] were just asked to play Foo Fighters.” I was like, “wow, that’s insane” and he’s like, “sorry mate, I’ve gotta take this phone call.”

He takes the call and he looks at me and I go, “Yep what’s going on?” He hangs up and he goes, “oh they want Amyl to play too” and I was like, “No way!”

I got Goosebumps but I was like, “Yeah let’s do it! Let’s lock it in.” I rushed to the bus stop and got the tattoo. While I was getting tattooed — it was like the most painful tattoo — I was getting all these different phone calls from different people being like, “oi you need to confirm Foo Fighters!” and I was like, “dude, I’m in so much pain!” But yeah that’s the story.

It’s honestly not a surprise to see that this band is gaining attention. Amyl And The Sniffers are explosive. They ooze passion and energy, and we were simply infatuated by their sound and stage presence. They have worked extremely hard to get to where they are today and deserve all the spoils. We can’t wait to see what’s next for the guys. We get the feeling it’s only further up from here!